October 26, 2009
Do We Have to Respond to Every Brand Mention?
By: Lauren Vargas
Have you heard the nursery rhyme, A Wise Old Owl? It goes something like this:
A wise old owl sat in an oak,
The more he heard, the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard;
Why aren’t we all like that wise old bird?
Be the owl
First things first, you must identify, acknowledge and understand the why before you recognize the how or if of response. People do not engage in social media to connect with brands or organizations, but with each other. Why is your company being mentioned? Why not? Listening first will help you determine the sense needed to filter out relevant conversations and respond where appropriate.
Christina Kerley states, social media monitoring is not sexy, but a necessity. “You see, a key value proposition of social media is that the tools not only give people a way to express, share and connect around ideas, but the tools also give companies the ability to identify new markets, new opportunities, potential risks and needed improvements.” I think the wise old bird would agree.
Response is not a chore
There are no one-size fits all social media solutions; however, there are some general rules of thought and direction that maintain true no matter the size or amount of buzz around your organization. The real question is, why shouldn’t you respond to all relevant brand mentions?
Through response your organization has the opportunity to:
- Spark deeper conversations,
- Set a message straight,
- Perform online reputation management,
- Distinguish self from competitors, and
- Increase web presence by leaving a breadcrumb trail to company site and information with every response.
Don’t look at response as something you have to do (like a kid viewing chores), but as something that adds significant value to your organization.
Who gives a hoot?
As we discussed in last week’s post about responding to negative comments, embrace and allow your customers and fans to speak on your organization’s behalf so you don’t have to respond to EVERY brand mention. Credibility of peer recommendation speaks volumes.
In this same vein of thought, it is important to note, that when you do engage in response and open up a dialog, you hold the potential of creating a long term relationship. Don’t pretend to be anyone other than who you are and don’t try to change opinions or over hype your brand. Listen to what is being relayed to you. Build a conversation and build a relationship.
Additional Resources
Take a peek at the new Radian6 site and The Engaged Brand. Every month, we are tackling a new topic area in and around social media, complete with articles, podcasts, webinars, whitepapers, videos…all to help you get a handle on industry best practices. This month we are focusing on the foundations of listening and engagement. We have a lot of stuff to share with you! Snack on the items on the newly designed site and keep checking back here for more on listening and engagement from the Radian6 team and featured guest bloggers.
Good one…liked the 5 points you've listed. The post sounds quite similar in intent to my India-specific post titled, 'Social media peanut butter', http://itwofs.com/beastoftraal/2009/09/30/social-…
It is a matter of picking your battles – can’t fight them all, nope! Choose those which you can address and which perhaps seems more pressing. Or choose those who seem to have better influence than others – these criteria could backfire since even someone not with any visible influence can gain notoriety in a week. But, selective response is a better solution than spreading thin. It also gives the brand enough breathing space when the level of activity increases, since the expectation doesn’t veer towards, ‘they’ll respond to every single query’. This is not a perfect solution, but is a perfectly manageable solution.
Good one…liked the 5 points you've listed. The post sounds quite similar in intent to my India-specific post titled, 'Social media peanut butter', http://itwofs.com/beastoftraal/2009/09/30/social-…
It is a matter of picking your battles – can’t fight them all, nope! Choose those which you can address and which perhaps seems more pressing. Or choose those who seem to have better influence than others – these criteria could backfire since even someone not with any visible influence can gain notoriety in a week. But, selective response is a better solution than spreading thin. It also gives the brand enough breathing space when the level of activity increases, since the expectation doesn’t veer towards, ‘they’ll respond to every single query’. This is not a perfect solution, but is a perfectly manageable solution.
Good brief introduction to the why of social media without getting into too much content. I like the substance of this, and would encourage you to stroke the ethical implications even a bit more next time. I realize that’s not the point of this piece, but it seemed an underlying theme you were yearning to address
Great stuff!
PS – Why is the text gray? So hard to read. What did black text ever do to Radian6?
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